Despite my best efforts, MIO: Memories in Orbit and I had a short run. While a beautiful game with a unique setting and extremely good platforming, its overly challenging bosses proved too much for me, even with selected options meant to ease their difficulty. I suppose I may return to it, but that won’t be until I obtain the patience to progress. Though I’ve set aside MIO, the game has planted itself in the back of my mind for two reasons: its incredibly engaging world and its amazing soundtrack. In writing this Resonance post, I could easily talk about the whole soundtrack as a work of atmospheric brilliance, one that fits so stunningly well with MIO’s world, it almost acts like a character on its own. But instead I’ll focus on one theme that’s become a favorite: The Frozen Path.

As the title states, this song lulls along in the background as the player traverses an icy and snowy metropolis. Doing so the first time immediately brought to my mind shades of Metroid Prime’s Phendrana Drifts theme. Not in sound but in feeling. How does one convey a sense of solitude trapped by loneliness that might well up upon stumbling into a world that’s been frozen in time? How does one convey “cold” in song? Composer Kenji Yamamoto managed to do that in Metroid Prime; composer Nicolas Geuguen did here in MIO. There’s something in the synthesis of light chimes and ethereal voices that expresses both melancholy and hope, and beauty, for MIO is a lovely looking game above all else.

In just this year alone, I’ve probably been enthralled by more game soundtracks than actual games, but maybe that’s just me forging new musical paths away from the traditional avenues.  I can’t escape the sounds of Clair Obscur, and I’m certainly not complaining. Adding MIO’s soundtrack into the mix has only proved beneficial…even if its boss battle themes still make me more than a little anxious.

Lede image captured by author of gameplay of MIO: Memories in Orbit (© Douze Dixièmes).